Anita Page
| birth_place = Flushing, Queens, New York, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | resting_place = Holy Cross Cemetery, San Diego | nationality = American | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1925–1936; 1961; 1996–2008 | spouse = | children = 2 }} Anita Page (August 4, 1910 – September 6, 2008) was an American film actress who reached stardom in the last years of the silent film era.Anita Page: Star of the silent screen. Independent.co.uk (September 8, 2008). Retrieved on May 10, 2012. Page became a highly popular young star, reportedly receiving the most fan mail of anyone on the MGM lot. She was referred to as "a blond, blue-eyed Latin"Latinas in the United States. Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved on May 10, 2012. and "the girl with the most beautiful face in Hollywood" in the 1920s.Anita Page, 98; Hollywood Star at End of Silent Movie Era. Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved on May 10, 2012. She retired from acting in 1936. Page married her second husband the following year with whom she had two children. Page returned to acting sixty years later in 1996, and appeared in four films in the 2000s. She died in September 2008 at the age of 98. Early life She was born Anita Evelyn Pomares to Marino Leo, Sr. (b. BrooklynAnita Page Interview 4 out of 9. States her father was of Spanish origin born in Brooklyn.) and Maude Evelyn (née Mullane) Pomares. She had one brother, Marino Jr., who later worked for her as a gym instructor while her mother worked as her secretary and her father as her chauffeur. Page's paternal grandfather Marino was from SpainAt the Center of the Frame: Leading Ladies of the Twenties and Thirties William M. Drew "My real name is Anita Pomares which is Spanish. Both my parents were born in this country. My paternal grandfather had come over from Spain and was a consul in El Salvador. My grandmother was definitely Castilian Spanish".,and had worked as a consul in El Salvador; her grandmother Anna Muñoz was of (Castillian) Spanish descent.At the Center of the Frame: Leading Ladies of the Twenties and Thirties William M. Drew She was of maternal Yankee and French descent.Latin American Writers and the Rise of Hollywood Cinema By Jason BorgeBeyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro By André Soares Career Page entered films with the help of friend, actress Betty Bronson. A photo of Page was spotted by a man who handled Bronson's fan mail who was also interested in representing actors. With the encouragement of her mother, Page telephoned the man who arranged a meeting for her with a casting director at Paramount Studios. After screentesting for Paramount, Page also tested for MGM. After being offered a contract for both studios, Page decided on MGM. "I wanted to go with MGM because they were so good for female actresses. If you ask me, MGM was the studio."Ankerich, Michael G. The Sound of Silence: Conversations with 16 Film and Stage Personalities. McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC: 1998. p. 185. Page's first film for MGM was the 1928 comedy-drama Telling the World, opposite William Haines. Her performance in her second MGM film, Our Dancing Daughters (1928) opposite Joan Crawford was a tremendous success and it inspired two similar films in which they also co-starred Our Modern Maidens and Our Blushing Brides. "I used to say that we're going to be 'The Galloping Grandmothers' at the rate we're going with these pictures," she said in 1993.Ankerich, Michael G. The Sound of Silence: Conversations with 16 Film and Stage Personalities. McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC: 1998. p. 191. The Broadway Melody (1929) opposite Bessie Love was one of her greatest successes, and it won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Page had no trouble transitioning to talking pictures, but she wasn't thrilled that they basically did away with silent films. "In my opinion, silents were much better than talkies. One thing you had was mood music, which you could have playing throughout your scene to inspire you. My favorite song was 'My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice' from Samson and Delilah. I never seemed to tire of it. The trouble with talkies was, they let you have the music, but they'd stop it when you had to talk and it was always a letdown for me."Ankerich, Michael G. The Sound of Silence: Conversations with 16 Film and Stage Personalities. McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC: 1998. p. 191. She was the leading lady to Lon Chaney, Buster Keaton, Robert Montgomery, and Clark Gable (among others) and during the early 1930s, she was one of Hollywood's busiest actresses. She was involved briefly with Gable romantically during that time. At the height of her popularity, she was receiving more fan mail than any other female star, with the exception of Greta Garbo, and received multiple marriage proposals from Benito Mussolini in the mail. Retirement When her contract expired in 1933, she surprised Hollywood by announcing her retirement at the age of 23. She made one more movie, Hitch Hike to Heaven, in 1936, and then left the screen, virtually disappearing from Hollywood circles for sixty years. In a 2004 interview with author Scott Feinberg, she claimed that her refusal to meet demands for sexual favors by MGM head of production Irving Thalberg, supported by studio chief Louis B. Mayer, is what truly ended her career. She said that Mayer colluded with the other studio bosses to ban her and other uncooperative actresses from finding work. She married composer Nacio Herb Brown in 1934, but the marriage was annulled a year later because Brown's previous divorce had not been finalized at the time they were married.Alternate Film Guide: Anita Page: Anita Page: Q&A with Author Allan Ellenberger. Altfg.com (August 22, 2007). Retrieved on May 10, 2012. She married Lieutenant Hershel A. House, a Navy pilot, on January 9, 1937 in Yuma, Arizona,Arizona, County Marriage Records, 1865-1972 and they moved to Coronado, California, and lived there until his death in 1991. They had two daughters, LindaKansasCity.com: Silent screen siren Anita Page dies at 98 (now Linda Sterne)Silent screen siren Anita Page dies at 98. usatoday.com (September 7, 2008). Retrieved on May 10, 2012. and Sandra (who predeceased Page). Page was a Democrat who supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential electionMotion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers . Page was a Roman Catholic.Morning News, January 10, 1948, Who Was Who in America (Vol. 2) Return to acting Page returned to the screen in 1996 after sixty years retirement and appeared in several low budget horror films. Film veteran Margaret O'Brien appeared in two of them. During this period, she moved in with her co-star and occasional director, Randal Malone at his Van Nuys home. Page relished her status as "last star of the silents" and frequently gave interviews and appeared in documentaries about the era. Ill health prevented her from making public appearances in her final years. Death Page died in her sleep on September 6, 2008 at her Los Angeles home, at the age of 98. She is buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery in San Diego. At the time of her death in September 2008, she was among the last to have acted as an adult in silent films (Barbara Kent and Miriam Seegar are among the handful of others) to live into the 21st century. She was also the last living attendee of the very first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Anita Page has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6116 Hollywood Boulevard. Filmography Villecco, Tony; Silent Stars Speak. McFarland 2001 p 101 References External links Villecco, Tony (2001). Silent Stars Speak McFarland. p 101 * *Anita Page Biography and Gallery *Anita Page Photo Gallery *Anita Page at Golden Silents *Guardian Interview with Anita Page *Photographs of Anita Page * , accessed September 14, 2010 Category:1910 births Category:2008 deaths Category:American people of Salvadoran descent Category:American people of Spanish descent Category:20th-century American actresses Category:21st-century American actresses Category:Actresses from New York City Category:American child actresses Category:American film actresses Category:American silent film actresses Category:Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players Category:Hispanic and Latino American actresses Category:People from Queens, New York Category:California Democrats Category:New York (state) Democrats Category:Washington Irving High School (New York City) alumni Category:WAMPAS Baby Stars Category:American Roman Catholics